On our recent trip to Chandigarh, my husband seized the opportunity to go to the Sunday farmer's market. He bought all the variety of greens available. Trust me it was a tough task for my sister and me to sort those out. What caught my eye was the chane ka Saag. I asked him what made him buy that coz we had never bought it. He said on seeing that he remembered that his father used to buy that. My next question was how to cook it ? He said he didn't remember what his mom used to make with the saag. That's when my dad chopped in that his mother used to make it with urad dal. So dear old Google came to my rescue. Went through several recipes and here is my version. I have made it with moong dal as I am not very fond of urad dal. Pluck the tender stems of saag and discard the rest. You can adjust the green chili and garlic according to your taste. We prefer mildly spicy.
Ingredients Chana Saag 100 gms after cleaning. Moong dal 1/2 Garlic 6 large cloves Green chilli 1 Onion 1 chopped finely. Oil / ghee 1 tbsp Asaefotida a large pinch Red chili pd 1/2 tsp Turmeric pd 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Water as required Method
Wash and soak moong dal.
Wash the saag very nicely and then chop it fine.
Put this saag ,some salt and half 1 cup water in a pressure cooker.
After 2 whistles let it cool on low heat for 10 minutes.
Then let it rest till all the pressure releases.
Open the cooker and with a hand blender blend the saag.
Add soaked moong dal and turmeric powder.
Let it cook on medium heat till dal is tender. We are not giving pressure here as we don't want the dal to over cook.
Add water if needed.
Once the dal is tender, prepare tempering on a pan.
Heat oil or ghee, add asaefotida ,cumin seeds, chopped green chili and chopped garlic. Once garlic changes color add red chili powder.
Pour this tempering over the dal.
Mix well.
Add lemon juice.
Check and adjust salt.
Check the consistency.
It should be thick.
Serve hot with roti or paratha.
We had it with bajra roti.
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